Airlock

NanoRacks Airlock Module: Bishop

The NanoRacks Airlock Module (Bishop) is the first-ever commercial Airlock that will operate on the International Space Station.

Owned by NanoRacks, Bishop will be both a permanent commercial un-crewed module onboard the International Space Station, and also a module capable of being removed from the Space Station and used on a future commercial platform, such as Independence-1.

Bishop will offer five times the satellite deployment volume than current opportunities available on the Space Station today. The Airlock is manifested to launch in late 2019.

Image credit: The Houston Chronicle

Image credit: The Houston Chronicle

Image credit: The Houston Chronicle

Image credit: The Houston Chronicle

Image credit: NanoRacks

The in-house team at NanoRacks, led by Brock Howe, will oversee the project management, mechanical and avionics design engineering, safety, operations, quality assurance, mockups and crew training, and the final assembly, integration and testing of the Bishop airlock.

Commercial opportunities for customers around the world include CubeSat deployment, MicroSat deployment, internal research racks, externally mounted research racks, and more.

In February 2017, NanoRacks selected Boeing as a partner to fabricate and install the Airlock’s Passive Common Berthing Mechanism (PCBM), which is used to connect most pressurized modules of the Space Station– and is the most critical piece of hardware for the Airlock. The PCBM hardware is being manufactured at the Boeing facilities in Huntsville, Alabama. Boeing will also provide additional engineering services required for developing and manufacturing of the airlock.

Additionally, in February 2018, NanoRacks announced that Thales Alenia Space has joined the Airlock team. Thales Alenia Space will produce and test the critical pressure shell for NanoRacks’ Airlock Module, as well as various secondary structures, including the Micrometeoroid Orbital Debris (MMOD) shields with Multi-Layer Isolation (MLI) panels, the power and video grapple fixture support structure and other structural components.

In May 2018, NanoRacks shared that Bishop completed Critical Design Review (CDR), a major milestone, and is now moving into fabrication with Thales Alenia Space.